Tarboro is an isolated community in Camden County’s interior, near White Oak.
Tarboro Mercantile
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Tag Archives: Georgia Stores
Eulonia Feed & Seed
Tarboro Mercantile Company Warehouse, 1924, White Oak
This is one of my favorite landmarks along U. S. Highway 17 and among the most-photographed locales on the coast highway. It was built in 1924 by Edgar Allen Poe McCarthy as a warehouse for his Tarboro Mercantile, located nearby.
Historic Storefronts, Lumpkin
These historic commercial structures are located on Broad Street, in front of the courthouse.
Lumpkin Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Eady’s Fish Market, McRae
South Georgians love their seafood and most small towns have at least one fishmonger. It’s a hard business to maintain away from the coast, though.
Pitts Service Station, McRae
Judy Harris writes that this was the Pitts Service Station. She notes it was more a garage than a service station at the time, but later just sold gas. She also recalls that Ralph Evans had an upholstery shop in the back of the building.
Sloan’s Store, Climax
Thanks to Jean Ouzts for the identification. She notes that this was Bill Sloan’s store.
A. J. Lowery’s Western Auto, Hazlehurst
This was A. J. Lowery’s Western Auto store, a landmark in Hazlehurst for many years. It closed in 2014.
Verlon Gilbreath recalls: By the 1950s and ’60s Western Auto was relying less on auto parts and dealing more in general merchandise. Mr. Lowery’s store was a unique place for young boys during that time. It had Western Flyer bicycles with every accessory and part that you could want. There were Revelation rifles, shotguns, cleaning kits and ammo. For wanna-be mechanics there was an assortment of Wizard tools. The store also had a good display of appliances and some electronics.
What made Mr. Lowery’s place special was his trust in young people. He gave quite a few of us our first experience in paying ‘on time’. If you could show that you had a part-time job and acted like a decent sort of person he would let you make weekly payments on your purchase.
Many small towns had associate stores, like Mr. Lowery’s. Company-owned stores were mostly in cities. Sears bought Western Auto in 1987 then sold it to Advance Auto Parts in 1998. Today in the U.S. there are still a few former associate stores displaying the name Western Auto for nostalgic purposes only.